FAKE Fic: Fallen Hero
Title: Fallen Hero
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Jess, Arnon, Buck.
Rating: PG-15
Setting: Vol. 6, Act 18.
Summary: Dee starts to doubt whether he was right to trust Jess the way he always has.
Word Count: 1081
Content Notes: Mentions of drugs, murder, and other things.
Written For: Challenge 408: Doubt at fan_flashworks.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
Until Arnon was killed, there’d never been any reason for Dee to doubt Jess’s word. Jess had been a major part of his life practically since the moment Dee was born. He was the man who’d found Dee when he was just a few hours old, abandoned and helpless, and from that day on he’d always been there whenever Dee needed anything, whether it was some fatherly advice or a few bucks so he could do something fun with his friends. Jess was family, more of a dad to Dee than his real father, whoever that was, could ever be, and Dee had trusted him completely.
Then he’d gone to Jess with the candy bar Arnon had dropped, convinced that it must be laced with drugs of some kind. Why else would it be the only thing that helped whenever Arnon turned pale and shaky? Especially since he seldom ate anything else anymore.
But then Jess had outright lied to him. He hadn’t taken the candy bar to the lab for testing. Instead he’d destroyed it, then turned a blind eye when Arnon was labelled a long-time user of intravenous drugs, even though Dee knew for a fact that there were no track marks on his friend’s arms. Every word of the police report printed in the newspaper was a lie!
Worse, Jess tried to make Dee doubt himself, and his friends, said maybe Dee had just not noticed the needle marks, overlooked them somehow… But if that was true, which Dee didn’t believe for a second, and the tox screen on the candy bar had come back negative, then why was Jess so insistent that he forget everything? Dee had to know, so he pressed for answers.
In all the time Dee had known the man, Jess had seldom raised his voice in anger at him, so when he did it shocked Dee into silence. Did he even know Jess anymore? Had he ever really known him? He’d thought he did, but the last few years, ever since Jess had transferred to the narcotics division, something had changed.
Then the guy showed up at Jess’s door, the one who’d given Arnon a package to deliver shortly before he was killed; a package Dee had seen his friend accept, but which hadn’t been there when Arnon’s body was found.
Maybe Dee was right to doubt Jess, but at the same time, it was as if Jess was trying to protect him, keep him out of something bad. What had Jess gotten himself involved in? Dee had always looked up to him, seen him as a kind of mentor, but now it seemed clear that Jess was on the take, a dirty cop, something that until now Dee would never have believed possible.
And what of Arnon? The man, Buck, claimed Arnon had been doing jobs for him, delivering packages that had probably contained drugs, and ‘servicing’ clients. Arnon had only been fifteen, the same age as Dee, but they’d hooked him on drug-laden candy bars and forced him to service a bunch of pedophiles, and now Buck thought Dee was going to take Arnon’s place… Like Hell!
Afterwards, Dee remembered hitting Buck, wanting to beat his sneering face to a pulp, and then there’d been a knife in his hand, a knife he didn’t remember picking up. Thankfully, Jess stopped him before he could use it as anything more than a threat to encourage Buck to talk. Then Jess had sent Dee away, told him he’d take care of Buck, and Dee had been glad to get out of there. He hadn’t wanted to even look at Jess, wasn’t sure he could ever bring himself to do so again, and he didn’t know what to think about anything that had happened.
He’d never seen Jess like that before, and he didn’t want to doubt the man who’d been there for him for as long as he could remember. But at the same time, he couldn’t help wondering… had anything Jess ever told him been true?
Yes, of course it had. After finding him in that alley and taking him to Mother, Jess had visited him almost every day. He’d had no reason to, there’d been nothing for him to gain from it except for being in the life of the kid whose life he’d saved. Jess had done the best he could for Dee over the years, but he wasn’t perfect. He’d made mistakes, and probably gotten in over his head with the wrong people, but he’d done everything he could to keep Dee from getting involved. He’d failed in that, but only because of Dee’s stubbornness and his refusal to keep his nose out of what had happened to Arnon.
“Jess was right, I’m too stubborn for my own good sometimes,” Dee admitted to himself. “I should apologise, I probably made things worse for him, especially since he had to deal with that creep Buck.” He wondered what Jess had done after he left, what threats or promises he’d had to make. It didn’t occur to him until a body was found near Jess’s apartment that the man he’d respected so much might have dealt with the problem Buck represented by resorting to lethal force.
Finding the blood-smeared note from Jess, telling him the whole truth, had cleared a lot of the doubts from Dee’s mind, but it had all been too late for Jess. The Mob hadn’t appreciated him putting a bullet through Buck; they’d gone after him for payback and by the time Dee caught up…
He was too late, Jess was already dying, but Dee was still glad he was there. It meant he could make one final promise to the man who’d done everything he could to protect him. Dee knew as he knelt by the dying man’s side that he should never have doubted how much Jess cared about him. He may have lied about some things, probably with good reason, but he’d always treated Dee like the son he’d never had, tried to be a good role model, and for all his faults, he had been.
There was only one thing Dee could do for Jess now, and that was to keep his promise, live his life honestly. Then and there he vowed that he’d join the police force, become a cop, and maybe someday put Jess’s murderers behind bars, where they belonged. He had no doubt that Jess would be proud of him.
The End
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Jess, Arnon, Buck.
Rating: PG-15
Setting: Vol. 6, Act 18.
Summary: Dee starts to doubt whether he was right to trust Jess the way he always has.
Word Count: 1081
Content Notes: Mentions of drugs, murder, and other things.
Written For: Challenge 408: Doubt at fan_flashworks.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
Until Arnon was killed, there’d never been any reason for Dee to doubt Jess’s word. Jess had been a major part of his life practically since the moment Dee was born. He was the man who’d found Dee when he was just a few hours old, abandoned and helpless, and from that day on he’d always been there whenever Dee needed anything, whether it was some fatherly advice or a few bucks so he could do something fun with his friends. Jess was family, more of a dad to Dee than his real father, whoever that was, could ever be, and Dee had trusted him completely.
Then he’d gone to Jess with the candy bar Arnon had dropped, convinced that it must be laced with drugs of some kind. Why else would it be the only thing that helped whenever Arnon turned pale and shaky? Especially since he seldom ate anything else anymore.
But then Jess had outright lied to him. He hadn’t taken the candy bar to the lab for testing. Instead he’d destroyed it, then turned a blind eye when Arnon was labelled a long-time user of intravenous drugs, even though Dee knew for a fact that there were no track marks on his friend’s arms. Every word of the police report printed in the newspaper was a lie!
Worse, Jess tried to make Dee doubt himself, and his friends, said maybe Dee had just not noticed the needle marks, overlooked them somehow… But if that was true, which Dee didn’t believe for a second, and the tox screen on the candy bar had come back negative, then why was Jess so insistent that he forget everything? Dee had to know, so he pressed for answers.
In all the time Dee had known the man, Jess had seldom raised his voice in anger at him, so when he did it shocked Dee into silence. Did he even know Jess anymore? Had he ever really known him? He’d thought he did, but the last few years, ever since Jess had transferred to the narcotics division, something had changed.
Then the guy showed up at Jess’s door, the one who’d given Arnon a package to deliver shortly before he was killed; a package Dee had seen his friend accept, but which hadn’t been there when Arnon’s body was found.
Maybe Dee was right to doubt Jess, but at the same time, it was as if Jess was trying to protect him, keep him out of something bad. What had Jess gotten himself involved in? Dee had always looked up to him, seen him as a kind of mentor, but now it seemed clear that Jess was on the take, a dirty cop, something that until now Dee would never have believed possible.
And what of Arnon? The man, Buck, claimed Arnon had been doing jobs for him, delivering packages that had probably contained drugs, and ‘servicing’ clients. Arnon had only been fifteen, the same age as Dee, but they’d hooked him on drug-laden candy bars and forced him to service a bunch of pedophiles, and now Buck thought Dee was going to take Arnon’s place… Like Hell!
Afterwards, Dee remembered hitting Buck, wanting to beat his sneering face to a pulp, and then there’d been a knife in his hand, a knife he didn’t remember picking up. Thankfully, Jess stopped him before he could use it as anything more than a threat to encourage Buck to talk. Then Jess had sent Dee away, told him he’d take care of Buck, and Dee had been glad to get out of there. He hadn’t wanted to even look at Jess, wasn’t sure he could ever bring himself to do so again, and he didn’t know what to think about anything that had happened.
He’d never seen Jess like that before, and he didn’t want to doubt the man who’d been there for him for as long as he could remember. But at the same time, he couldn’t help wondering… had anything Jess ever told him been true?
Yes, of course it had. After finding him in that alley and taking him to Mother, Jess had visited him almost every day. He’d had no reason to, there’d been nothing for him to gain from it except for being in the life of the kid whose life he’d saved. Jess had done the best he could for Dee over the years, but he wasn’t perfect. He’d made mistakes, and probably gotten in over his head with the wrong people, but he’d done everything he could to keep Dee from getting involved. He’d failed in that, but only because of Dee’s stubbornness and his refusal to keep his nose out of what had happened to Arnon.
“Jess was right, I’m too stubborn for my own good sometimes,” Dee admitted to himself. “I should apologise, I probably made things worse for him, especially since he had to deal with that creep Buck.” He wondered what Jess had done after he left, what threats or promises he’d had to make. It didn’t occur to him until a body was found near Jess’s apartment that the man he’d respected so much might have dealt with the problem Buck represented by resorting to lethal force.
Finding the blood-smeared note from Jess, telling him the whole truth, had cleared a lot of the doubts from Dee’s mind, but it had all been too late for Jess. The Mob hadn’t appreciated him putting a bullet through Buck; they’d gone after him for payback and by the time Dee caught up…
He was too late, Jess was already dying, but Dee was still glad he was there. It meant he could make one final promise to the man who’d done everything he could to protect him. Dee knew as he knelt by the dying man’s side that he should never have doubted how much Jess cared about him. He may have lied about some things, probably with good reason, but he’d always treated Dee like the son he’d never had, tried to be a good role model, and for all his faults, he had been.
There was only one thing Dee could do for Jess now, and that was to keep his promise, live his life honestly. Then and there he vowed that he’d join the police force, become a cop, and maybe someday put Jess’s murderers behind bars, where they belonged. He had no doubt that Jess would be proud of him.
The End